A Capehart Scatchard Blog

John H. Geaney

John H. Geaney, Esq. is a Shareholder and Co-Chair of Capehart Scatchard's Workers' Compensation Group. Mr. Geaney began an email newsletter entitled “Currents in Workers’ Compensation, ADA and FMLA” in 2001 in order to keep clients and readers informed on leading developments in these three areas of law. Since that time he has written over 500 newsletter updates.

Mr. Geaney is the author of Geaney’s New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Manual for Practitioners, Adjusters & Employers. The Manual is distributed by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE). He also authored an ADA and FMLA Manual also distributed by NJICLE. If you are interested in purchasing “Geaney’s New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Manual for Practitioners, Adjusters & Employers,” please contact NJICLE at 732-214-8500 or visit their website at www.njicle.com.

Mr. Geaney represents employers in the defense of workers’ compensation, ADA and FMLA matters. He is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers of the American Bar Association. He is one of two firm representatives to the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network.

A graduate of Holy Cross College summa cum laude, Mr. Geaney obtained his law degree from Boston College Law School.

Mr. Geaney was selected to the “New Jersey Super Lawyer” list (2005-2017, 2021 in the area of Workers’ Compensation). Only 5% of attorneys are selected to “Super Lawyers” through a peer nominated process based on independent research and peer evaluation. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. For a description of the “Super Lawyers” selection methodology, please visit https://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html

For the years 2022-2024 Mr. Geaney was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® list in the practice area of Workers’ Compensation Law - Employers. The attorneys on this list are selected based upon the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. A complete description of The Best Lawyers in America® methodology can be viewed via their website at https://www.bestlawyers.com/methodology.

*No aspect of this advertisement has been submitted to or approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Capehart Scatchard is a full service law firm with offices in Mt. Laurel and Hamilton, New Jersey. The firm represents employers and businesses in a wide variety of areas, including workers’ compensation, civil litigation, labor, environmental, business, estates and governmental affairs.

Update On Essential Workers And Hand And Foot Bills

By on September 11, 2020 in Legislation, NJ Workers' Comp with 6 Comments

Many readers have asked about the status of two very significant bills affecting New Jersey workers’ compensation practice.  They are S2380 and A4134. S2380 – The Essential Employees Bill We are down to the wire on S2380.  The Governor has until September 13, 2020 either to sign this bill or veto it; otherwise, S2380 will […]

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The Crucial Importance of Investigating Subsequent Accidents

Workers’ compensation claims professionals know how important it is to ask about prior injuries in workers’ compensation.  That information can bear directly on causation and will often lead to credits at the time of settlement. But an underrated area of investigation remains subsequent injuries that take place after the date of the workers’ compensation injury but […]

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When Are Injuries That Occur At Work Not Covered By Workers’ Compensation?

There is a fairly widespread belief that any injury that occurs at work must be covered under workers’ compensation.  But that is not true.  There are several categories of injuries that happen at work which simply are not compensable.  Injuries which do not arise out of employment are not covered in workers’ compensation.  Not only […]

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Respondents Can Reopen Cases Too

By on August 7, 2020 in Claims, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

Employers and workers’ compensation professionals are very familiar with reopener petitions or applications for modification of awards.  A reopener may be filed by the petitioner within two years of the last payment of indemnity benefits or the last authorized treatment date, but not many workers’ compensation professionals realize that employers can also apply for modification […]

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Divided Supreme Court Upholds Right of Employer to Pursue Subrogation For Payment Of Workers’ Compensation Benefits Even Where Employee Cannot Sue Due to The Limitation-On-Lawsuit Option

One of the most significant cases for employers in many years is N.J. Transit Corp. v. Sanchez, 2020 LEXIS 520 (N.J. May 12, 2020).  This decision is really a game changer for employers, carriers and third party administrators.  The conventional wisdom has always been that if an injured worker cannot sue for personal injuries in […]

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Governor Signs COVID-19 Accidental Disability Pension Law

A3945 was signed into law on July 1, 2020 by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.  The law provides for both an accidental disability pension for an eligible member who becomes totally disabled from COVID-19 as well as a death benefit for eligible beneficiaries if the covered member should die from COVID-19.   This new pension […]

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Gathering Information to Make Decisions on Compensability of COVID-19 Cases

Employers, third party administrators and insurance carriers have for months been expending a great deal of time collecting information needed to make compensability decisions in respect to COVID-19 claims.  There are many important questions to be asked in making such decisions.  This blog focuses not so much on specific questions but on areas of inquiry. […]

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Appellate Court Allows Employee To Reopen Terms Of A Consent Settlement To Reconstruct Wages

By on June 12, 2020 in NJ Workers' Comp, Settlements with 0 Comments

A recent unpublished case poses an unusual question:  can a party to a consent settlement for a percentage of disability award reopen the case to dispute the rate that was agreed to in the settlement?  The case is Calero v. Target Corporation, A-2650-18T3 (App. Div. June 10, 2020).    Ms. Calero and Target Corporation agreed […]

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Appellate Division Rejects Argument That Employee Was On A Special Mission And Was Compelled To Report To A Training Meeting

A key doctrine in the law known as “respondeat superior” provides that an employer is responsible for the acts of its employees performed within the course of their employment.  Whether that doctrine applied to an employee who had a motor vehicle accident after being summoned to a training meeting was the issue in Samol v. […]

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Appellate Division Finds that Dismissal of Comp Case and Motion for Medical and Temporary Disability Benefits Violated Petitioner’s Due Process Rights

By on May 18, 2020 in Benefits, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

In the past few years there have been several unreported cases in which the Appellate Division has found a violation of the due process rights of respondent.  McGory v. SLS Landscaping, A-4837-18T2 (App. Div. May 8, 2020) presents the first reported case in many years on the violation of a party’s due process rights, in […]

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Are There Workers’ Compensation And Employment Consequences For Failure To Use Protective Devices Required Under COVID-19 Policies?

By on May 4, 2020 in NJ Workers' Comp, Other with 1 Comment

I had a recent discussion in relation to an upcoming COVID-19 webinar with former Supervising Judge of Compensation, Ray. A. Farrington, who sat in Hackensack, N.J. Judge Farrington raised an important question about what employers can do when employees ignore safety rules concerning COVID-19 in respect to both workers’ compensation and employment law. Suppose an […]

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Enhanced Legal Presumptions Do Not Make Sense For Pandemic-Related Claims

By on April 27, 2020 in Legislation, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

Proposed Senate Bill 2380 sponsored by New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney seeks to create a new legal presumption of compensability for “essential employees,” including public safety workers and virtually all health care workers who file COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims.  This proposed presumption would require the Judge of Compensation to presume that any COVID-19 claim […]

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Policy Holder Made Material Misrepresentations To Its Workers’ Compensation Carrier Warranting Finding Of Fraud Under N.J.S.A. 34:15-47.4

N.J.S.A. 34:15-79(a) is the source of considerable litigation in workers’ compensation.  It provides that “Any contractor placing work with a subcontractor shall, in the event of the subcontractor’s failing to carry workers’ compensation insurance as required by this article, become liable for any compensation which may be due an employee or the dependents of a […]

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Preventive Actions Do Not Trigger Temporary Disability Benefits In Comp and New Paid Emergency Sick Leave Act For Coronavirus For Employers With Less Than 500 Employees Effective April 1, 2020

Let me begin with a correction to a prior blog.  A few weeks ago I wrote in a blog about a hypothetical scenario where an employer requires an employee to be quarantined because the employee was exposed to a fellow employee who tested positive for COVID-19.  Several readers wrote to disagree that the period of […]

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The Brave New World of Telecommuting and Workers’ Compensation

In response to the world-wide coronavirus epidemic, one of the most remarkable societal changes taking place in America today is the ubiquitous transition from working in an office to working from home.  The deadly coronavirus is forcing this change, but many think that even when this crisis passes, American businesses will start to reevaluate the […]

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